Sunday,
February 24, 2013. Three half naked women try to prevent Silvio
Berlusconi from reaching the polling station, supporting rumours that
females “just throw themselves at him”.
The
sudden attack of three topless Ukrainian women caused some concern
amongst the law enforcement officers escorting
Silvio Berlusconi to the polling station (general election take place on Sunday 24 and Monday 25 February in Italy), but the former prime minister of Italy surely did
not find himself in a totally unusual situation (having dealt with an entire bunga-bunga army for quite a while), and he did not budge.
FEMEN activist grabbed by Berlusconi's escort
After
the first puzzlement, the half-nude women were quickly pinned down in
the falling snow, detained by police and then hastily dragged away
screaming, creating quite a chaotic scene (you can see it on the
video on our YouTube channel) as people stood in queue to cast their
vote at Milan's school building.
Saturday,
February 23, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi breaches the electoral silence
just to declare that he reckons Sicilian Mafia is less dangerous than
Italian Judiciary. Or the other way around.
«The
Italian Judiciary is a Mafia, they are more dangerous than the
Sicilian Mafia,» says Silvio Berlusconi,
on a day when political issues are banned from the media by the
“Electoral Silence Rule”. Another quip destined to find a place amongst Berlusconi's quotes.
Berlusconi greets Galliani, as he arrives to Milanello on his helicopter, in order to spur AC Milan and slam Italian Judiciary
Actually
it looks like a “premeditated scoop”, as usual, since a friendly
journalist put the right question to the former Italian prime
minister, totally out of context (Silvio was in “Milanello”,
where he arrived on a helicopter, in order to greet AC Milan's
player, on the eve of the Milan's derby against FC Internazionale).
«And
I say it» will follow on the ineffable Silvio «knowing to say
something huge». Result: Silvio get headlines everywhere (starting from our blog, sigh! :-( ).
Some
might wonder about the ranking within Silvio Berlusconi's scales of
values, where Italian Judiciary seem to score less than Sicilian
Mafia, and dictator Benito Mussolini seems to enjoy quite some
credit, from the right-wing politician.
Here's
the script of the interview... pardon, the monologue of Silvio
Berlusconi in Milanello (you can find the video on our YouTube channel):
«...because
here in Italy, I have been attacked in connection with the
bunga-bunga, which is an operation of deception, defamation, which is
supported by nothing. In fact nothing came out of it. They made
150,000 telephone interceptions. Without discovering a single crime.
And continue with the proceedings, which have been reported by all
foreign newspapers, where the judiciary is a serious matter whereas
here in Italy it's a Mafia, more dangerous than the Sicilian Mafia.
And I say it knowing to say a big thing.». A big thing, and not really a funny one, Mr Berlusconi!
Wednesday,
February 20, 2013. A massive mailshot of letters with the words
"Important notice: reimbursement of [propriety tax] IMU 2012"
printed on the envelope was sent to Italian voters by Silvio
Berlusconi People of Freedom party, triggering queues of inquiring at
Post Offices and revenue services' agency.
Silvio Berlusconi promising to abolish IMU (and refund the tax paid in 2012)
“How
and when to obtain in 2013 the refund the [property tax] IMU paid in
2012 on the first house and land and farm buildings” recites the
object of the letter – sent to millions of households and duly
signed by Silvio Berlusconi – who addresses the recipients with a
warm “Dear Maria” or “Dear Giovanni”, depending if the addressed person is a man or a woman.
The
letter goes on detailing that the payment can be carried out "to
your current bank account or, for pensioners and others who
prefer this method, in cash at the Post Office counter". In a
country like Italy were almost 40 per cent of inhabitants never used Internet
and the main source of information is the television, it might be
easy to take it for granted that the tax will be paid back. Especially if you are a pensioner, and somebody is showing you the colour of money...
Monday,
February 18, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi suggests that AC Milan's coach
Massimiliano Allegri should take care of Barcelona's striker Lionel
Messi man-marking him, making clear that presidents (like him) don't
meddle with tactics, but they do fire managers.
Lionel Messi, the menace
While
giving an interview to Italian radio RTL 102.5, Silvio Berlusconi –
AC Milan's president and owner – talked about the tough game his
team will face on Wednesday, when they will play Barcelona UEFA
Champions League in San Siro (recently signed Mario “Bad apple”Balotelli
will not play, not being on the EUFA list for the competition), and
said that “It will be very difficult to beat them” and “my
suggestion is that [Lionel] Messi is man-marked.”. You cannot let your hair down, with players like him.
In the
following day the former Italian prime minister also suggested the
name of the defender who should take care of the Barça's (nickname
of the Catalan side) Argentine Ballon D'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year, the midfielder Sulley Muntari.
Thursday, February 14, 2013 (Valentine's Day). Silvio Berlusconi commented the recent corruption scandals inItaly slamming as "moralising" and stating that bribes are just a "necessary part of the business".
If you
have been wondering why Italy is the last Western European country in
the corruption ranking (according to the non-governmental organization Transparency International), well Silvio Berlusconi has answer to that, by declaring that
bribery is not a crime, but just a “commission” to be paid (by
the way, Silvio has been condemned for fraud in the past...), as he
was interviewed on Rai3 television programme “Agorà”.
How to bewitch people on the radio?
«Stop
moralising» said the former Italian prime minister, «one cannot
be an entrepreneur on a global scale without bribes». Berlusconi
himself has been accused of bribery, for instance in the Mills case.
Once
again, the former Italian prime minister tried to please some of his
potential voters, by saying something with his foot in the mouth (“if
anything, the media will talk about me”, he thinks, and he is
rarely wrong, and quite ubiquitously present on almost any Italian
headlines), in a moment when – due to the recent scandals involving
Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica
and Monte dei Paschi di Siena, the oldest bank in the world – some observers (and prime minister
Mario Monti) reckon Italy is in a worse situation than during the Mani Pulite era, in the beginning of the 90s.
Sweethearts on Valentine's Day
So Transparency
International became a bit wary the the concept perhaps wasn't so clear and decided to publish a reminder to Italy (not
only to Mr Berlusconi) that bribery is against the law, just in case.
Most probably the guy that provoke the statement didn't even realised it, when
finished creating his usual share of turmoil, Silvio relaxed and
went out for dinner with his girlfriend and would-be First LadyFrancesca Pascale. Jokes (as usual) and prayers were served by the former premier.
Sunday,
February 3, 2013. “Even imbeciles are able to invent new taxes”
says Silvio Berlusconi, explaining that he is an intelligent one who
will make the Swiss pay for it.
Silvio
Berlusconi had a vision: in the first meeting of the new ministers'
cabinet – where the newly elected Silvio will play the role of the
Economy and Finance Minister – there will be decided the scrapping
of the unpopular property tax called IMU, and the reimbursement of
the tax the Italians paid during 2012 (the media tycoon called it a «shock proposal», his rival Gianfranco
Fini, the chair of the house of representatives, has another idea, he replied on Twitter
that in his second cabinet meeting, Berlusconi would «decree
that everybody wins the lottery»).
Promises, promises!
How?
In a previous attempt to convince the Italians how he would abolish
the propriety tax (when the former prime
minister faced his long-term enemy Michele Santoro on his TV show) Silvio Berlusconi declared he would raise new taxes on tobaccos,
spirits and gambling.
Then
the ex-premier of Italy realised that he needs to be (even) smarter. «Even imbeciles are
able to invent news taxes», declared the billionaire to his
supporters yesterday, on a speech in Milan, then he pledged to
convince the Swiss banks to help him to tax Italian assets and activities
in Switzerland. Not only they have to pay a one off tribute of 25
billion euro (about £21.7bn or $33.9bn), but – in Silvio's mind –
they will be keeping on paying €5bn every year.
Doesn't
it sound as a tax, Silvio? Are you an imbecile?
Anyhow,
the problem isn't exactly there - someone would argue – but in the
fact that nobody ever convinced the Swiss bankers to do so!
Never
mind, thinks Silvio, they (the new government made up by the People
of Liberty party and friends) will do it, they will convince them.
And
in the meanwhile, they take – as a loan – the money from the
postal savings system (CDP).
Wednesday,
January 30, 2013. After being slammed as “bad apple” by AC
Milan's owner Silvio Berlusconi only a couple of weeks before,
footballer Mario Balotelli wears the red-and-black shirt for the
first time.
Super Mario Balotelli
Former striker of Inter Milan and Manchester City and Italian National football team's player Mario Balotelli is travelling to Milan today, as hundreds of texts and tweets anticipated in the previous days.
A
jubilant Barbara Berlusconi – member of AC Milan's board of
directors and Silvio Berlusconi's daughter – declared to Italian news agency ANSA how the team could manage to make a major hit by acquiring from British football club
Manchester City the talented Mario Balotelli, while her father – in
mid January – said that the young striker was a “rotten apple”
(alluding to the young talent's sometimes problematic behaviour) who could "infect any group or team, even AC Milan" and
there was no interest in him.
Silvio: "Rotten apple"
In Silvio's words: "No one from my
club has held any talks with him, and neither [Vice Executive
President and CEO Adriano] Galliani nor I has identified him as a
transfer target.". The
AC Milan's management seemed also wary about spending 20 million euro
(£17.2m or $27m) in order to sign the player of Ghanaian descent (here's the Mario's page on Wikipedia).
Well,
in the world of football it is a widespread (and somehow
understandable) practice to deny any interest in players when a
negotiation is on course, but did Silvio Berlusconi really have the
necessity to call Mario a “rotten apple” and say that he is prone to "infect" his team, only in order to
apologise the day after?
Barbara: "Major hit"
Sometimes
it looks like if the former prime minister of Italy just love to say
things that well soon need any apology, perhaps in order to get exposure to
the media twice: when he says something nasty or rude, and when he
makes amends, playing good cop/bad cop all by himself. Have a look at Silvio's quotes, to get an idea... Massimo Moratti - the president of AC Milan's derby rival Internazionale Milan - said to journalists that the signing of Mario "Bad Boy" Balotelli will be "useful to Berlusconi in many ways" hinting at political motives. Forecasters state that the player's transfer might contribute to the former prime minister's People of Liberty party's polls with 2 percentage points in next month elections.
Sunday,
January 27, 2013. On the International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Silvio Berlusconi finds it compelling to defend Italian fascist
dictator Benito Mussolini's deeds, another victim of the “German
power”, before taking a nap on a ceremony about the Shoah he wasn't
even invited to.
On Sunday Silvio took part in the inauguration of a monument to the deported of the Shoah, and he must have though "what a better occasion than this one, to praise good ol' Benito?".
Thursday,
10 January 2013. Silvio Berlusconi enters the lions den, where
Michele Santoro and Marco Travaglio were looking forward to devouring
the former prime minister.
Santoro and Berlusconi
Allegedly
Silvio Berlusconi kicked Michele Santoro out of Italian public TV
RAI, back in 2002, that's why the clash between the former prime
minister and the left-wing anchorman was described as the duel of the
century by many.
Silvio
Berlusconi was supposed to walk out in anger, after Michele Santoro
and his associate Marco Travaglio would have grilled him properly.
Almost
9 million Italians were glued to the video (one third of the
audience, up to 50 per cent in the heat of the discussion), as the
Santoro-team attacked on waves.
Nothing
doing, the former prime minister fended off Santoro's lunges, ignored
Luisella Costamagna remarks, and even returned fire to Marco
Travaglio, by enlisting – written on a letter he abruptly pulled
out of his pocket - ten lawsuits for defamation the journalist had
lost.
Berlusconi cleansing the chair where Travaglio sat
Attacks
regarding sex-scandals, Rubygate, and the paying of the 42
bunga-bunga army girls, the request of saying to the Italians he was
sorry... all in vane. Silvio Berlusconi answers blending wit remarks,
with shreds of statistics, smiles and provocations. And, once again,
he gets away with it, and keeps on «gaining
back who already voted for me, and perhaps convincing new voters»,
as he put it.
How
to convince the Italians that the People of Liberty party is the
right choice? Silvio Berlusconi's pièce
de résistance is the
abolition of a tax on proprieties, which yield would be – according
to the former Italian prime minister – replaced by new taxes on
tobaccos, spirits and gambling (the tax was introduced by Berlusconi
himselft, but it's the Monti's government that made it applicable to
owners of first homes).
Running
out of options, Santoro also showed a video taken almost four years
before (in April 2009), when Silvio Berlusconi had been keeping
waiting German chancellor Angela Merkel while he was talking on the
telephone (the video is available on our YouTube channel, click here> to watch it). Well, of course Silvio had an answer for that (he could have work
out quite a range of replies, in four years...), but before replying
to it – revealing he had been talking to Turkish prime minister
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about a crucial topic of the summit - he said
«Santoro, you're digging your own
grave.».
“I'm
having fun” would later declare smiling the former prime minister.
Santoro – quite evidently – was not having fun, was visibly annoyed and refuse to shake hands with Silvio, at a certain stage. At least until
Silvio left and he went on giggling with his cartoonist friend,
Vauro Senesi, who showed the sketches he had been drawing during the programme, in what Santoro
called «my communist moments.».
While
enjoying his communists moments, Santoro might be an unaware
supporter for Silvio, whose deficit had been reducing constantly,
since the Italian politician started to show off on TV, without
finding any credible opposition. So far.
January 2013. Silvio Berlusconi keeps on discovering conspiracies planned by his enemies, in order to prevent him to deservedly get back to Italy's helm. And he keeps instigating his supporters to fight against this Communist plot.
Silvio revealed the umpteenth plot against him
Silvio Berlusconi, in the attempt to gain sympathy from the public before the general election set for 24-25 February 2013, is trying to portray himself in different ways, but mainly as a victim.
In his own view, Silvio is a victim of a series of conspiracies and plots, he has being disclosing day after day. In the past he informed Barack Obama and Angela Merket about this terrible conspiracy (did they care?). Behind those plots obviously hid some of his countless enemies.
Tuesday,
January 8, 2013 (Blessed Eurosia Fabris Barban). Silvio Berlusconi labels judges in charge for his
divorce settlement as “feminist and communist” on LA7 broadcaster's prime time
television show.
Lilli
Gruber, former RAI employee and left-wing politician, is the anchor
woman hosting 8 e mezzo (“8 and a half”) prime time show,
where Silvio Berlusconi was interviewed yesterday, and most people
would have expected a fierce opposition to the former prime minister
of Italy.
Well,
it was not the case. Silvio just strolled through the interview,
smiling and leading the dance for the entire 60 minutes or so
(commercial breaks included).
Monday,
January 7, 2013. Silvio Berlusconi and Northern League's Roberto
Maroni sign an agreement. With not many clear points on it, but an blurry alliance is better then no ally at all, isn't it.
Silvio's smiling?
Actually
Silvio Berlusconi and Northern League's (Lega Nord) Roberto Maroni
agreed to disagree, yesterday, since the only sure thing about the
pact is that the NL does not want the Italian former prime minister
and media tycoon to stand for head of government, and he (I mean the
tycoon) had to agree, otherwise he would find himself without an
ally, and hordes of enemies.
So,
who will be the candidate for this centre-right coalition? "I
already proposed he's candidacy, and I think it will be he again,
Angelino Alfano" said the former prime minister, when
interviewed by Italian radio broadcaster RTL.
Tuesday, 1 January 2013 (Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God). Waking up in the morning of the first day of the new year, Silvio Berlusconi finds out his Twitter account has gained 60,000 followers in one night.
@Berlusconi2013 Twitter account, before the miracle
It took some time for Silvio Berlusconi to get involved in the fast growing social media Twitter, being overtook by a generally traditionalist fellow politician, Pope Benedict XVI, with his @Pontifex, and competitor #1, member of the Senate of Italy and prime minister candidate Mario Monti, with his @SenatoreMonti.
But when he went into it, he did it with his usual vigour.
Starting in the beginning of December 2012, the account @berlusconi2013 had been attracting around seven thousand followers, until the new year's eve miracle: in one magic night Silvio's fan on Twitter grew to over 70,000. It's not a scandal, just a remarkable event.
According to some sources, 70 per cent of the... 73,504 fans (update: 4 January, 10:54 GMT) is a fake, and 80 per cent are South American and Arab accounts – perhaps not very interest in the political events of Italy. How many of them are women? Couldn't find any data about it, but we bet it's more than a few...
Pato and Barbara Berlusconi smile on Twitter
The former prime minister of Italy's Twitter account launched also a kind of “I don't vote for the Left” campaign, by introducing a @iononvotolasx user and ionovotolasx.com internet site (currently not available). These links seemed to have disappeared in the most recent hours, replaced by the ForzaSilvio.it link (“Go Silvio!”).
But The Kight is not the only member of the Berlusconi family to have discovered the tweets: in the meanwhile, also Silvio's daughter – Barbara Berlusconi – appeared on Twitter, publishing a photo just to prove that her relationship with former AC Milan's footballer Alexandre Pato is still on (even though her father sold the player to Brazil's Corinthians).
Some think that Silvio might be totally unaware of what's going on, and the initiation to the twitterati could really be a gift from the founder of the “Silvio ci manchi” (“Silvio we miss you”) club, the tycoon official fiancée Francesca Pascale.
What would be of the President (he has always been president of something) without his women?
(Update: On 4 June 2013, at 13:52 GMT, the Twitter account @berlusconi2013 has 59,290 followers. At the same time @Pontifex has been occupied by a Francis, apparently a migrant from South America. Where has Joseph Aloisius - aka Benedict XVI - gone? Anyhow, the account has now 2.5m followers... Finally, Barbara Berlusconi's last tweet dates back to 11 August 2012.).
Monday,
December 31, 2012. Giving an interview to Rome's Radio Capital,
Silvio Berlusconi says that gays “are funny”. It's not the first time the former prime minister speaks his mind about homosexuality.
Berlusconi: new look with Borsalino hat
Silvio
Berlusconi has not much time, less than two months, to run his
one-man-band campaign, before general election will be held in Italy
on 24 and 25 February 2013, so he needs to appear on media on a daily
basis, free-wheel speaking about almost anything.
Thursday, December 25, 2012. It's Christmas, and the marriage between Silvio Berlusconi and Miriam Raffaella Bartolini (aka Veronica Lario) comes to an end.
Silvio and Veronica (Photo EPA)
Veronica Lario and Silvio Berlusconi had been married for almost 22 year before when the legal separation document was filed, on 25 December 2012, in which the media tycoon agreed to pay 36 million euro a year in alimony to the former actress, in order to keep the ownership all his properties, especially the one they have been fighting over: Villa Belvedere in Macherio, near Milan.
The love story between Silvio and Veronica, however, started quite earlier: they met in 1980, when the Italian entrepreneur wife was still Carla Elvira Lucia Dall'Oglio.
A young Veronica Lario
When they decided to marry (15 December 1990, Berlusconi had already been divorced from Carla Elvira for five years), Silvio was 56 and Veronica 32, they had three children (Barbara, Eleonora and Luigi), who were raised in Villa Macherio. Now the estate – which is worth 78 million euro (£64m) and which maintenance costs 1.8 million euro (£1.5) a year – will remain in the hands of the former prime minister of Italy, since all the children already came of age.
According to Italy's civil code the “standard of living” of the couple must be maintained, and that was the principle that lead to the final settlement, even though Ms Lario reportedly asked an alimony of more than 40 million euro (and her ex-husband offered 2.5 million a year), according to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
In the past years, Veronica Lario has been living in Macherio, whereas his (now former) husband stayed in Villa Arcore, which he had to share with his son Pier Silvio and his girlfriend Silvia Toffanin.
Mara Carfagna: Silvio would have married her,
if he hadn't already a wife...
The (emotionally and possibly economically) painful decision to separate was triggered by the fact that Silvio Berlusconi “hurt [Veronica's] dignity as a woman”, by publicly flirting with former model Mara Carfagna (Berlusconi said that he would marry her, if he hadn't already a wife) and mix with under-age girls (like Noemi Letizia).
The former wife of Berlusconi also said he should seek help for his sex-addiction. Many of the disclosers were published in the book “Tendenza Veronica” (“Veronica Trend”), wrote by Ms Lario confidante's (and Italian Sky all-news channel TG 24 anchor woman) Maria Latella.
Later on Silvio Berlusconi was indicted for having paid to have sex with an under-age girl – later to be revealed to be Moroccan Karima El-Mahroug, commonly known as Ruby Rubacuori (Italian for Heart-stealer) – in 2010.
The trial related to the sex scandal will resume in February 2013 (the same month in which general elections will be held in Italy), in the meanwhile Berlusconi declared he was going straight, and limit his affection to his 28-year old girlfriend, Francesca Pascale.
Thursday,
December 27, 2012. AC Milan footballer Stephan El Shaarawy refuses to
cut his hair, notwithstanding the fact that Silvio Berlusconi – the
team's owner – allegedly asked him to do so.
Stephan "The Pharaoh" El Shaarawy's hairstyle
Nicknamed
Il Faraone (The Pharaoh), Stephan El Shaarawy is an Italian
footballer of Egyptian descent playing for AC Milan, known for the
ability of scoring goals, as well as for his weird hairstyle, which –
apparently – is annoying the club's owner and current president,
Silvio Berlusconi.
All
this according to the site Al Arabiya News,
which – in turn – quoted a local Italian newspaper as source of
the news.
El
Sharaawy – who is currently Italy top of the league Serie A's best scorer, with 14
goals – is AC Milan's “new Ibra”, according to Barbara Berlusconi, daughter of the team owner, member of the club's Board
of directors and girlfriend of the fallen-from-grace striker Pato, meaning that the 22-year-old striker is as talented as
the Swedish Zlatan Ibrahimović is, who was sold by AC Milan to the
French PSG last year.
Other
stories emerged, as the former prime minister already ask defender
Philippe Mexès and midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng to change their "disturbing" hairstyles. To some extent, they agreed to lower their cockscomb,
whilst the Italo-Egyptian forward apparently dug in his heels.
Silvio "The Knight" Berlusconi hairstyle
The
Italian newspaper (La Provincia di Varese) cited an
hairdresser (Sebastian Muscillo) who used to work for AC Milan as
well as Turin's Juventus FC, saying that the former Italian prime
minister tried to force El Shaarawy to cut his hair.
The
request of Silvio Berlusconi was first addressed to the young talent
(whose father is Egyptian, while his mother is Italian) when he first
signed the contract with AC Milan, as the president told him not to
get rid of the “exotic” hairdo as soon as possible.
Silvio
Berlusconi seems to be quite allergic to hairdos and combing stuff,
for some reasons...
Saturday,
December 22, 2012. Katarina Knezevic gives an interview to an Italian
daily newspaper saying that she will become the wife of Silvio
Berlusconi, not Francesca Pascale.
Katarina Knezevic, Montenegrin model and alleged "fidanzata" of Silvio
The
story with Francesca Pascale is “a heap of crap” according to
22-year-old Katarina Knezevic, the Montenegrin model who swears she is
the real Silvio Berlusconi's fiancée, or “fidanzata” as they say
in Italian.
Francesca
is just an electoral stunt, “the result of an agreement” –
according to the Balkan woman, who was a contestant on Miss
Montenegro pageant – she will never be the wife of Silvio
Berlusconi. “I am still in love with him” she added, in her
interview to the leftist daily newspaper “Il Fatto Quotidiano”
(“The Daily Fact”), “for a man like him I could kill and I'd be
ready to die”.
Silvio with official fiancée, Francesca
Katarina
is “a very dangerous crazy person”, "gypsy" a "runaway
from home", used to say to each other over the phone the
bunga-bunga princesses, Nicole Minetti, Barbara Faggioli, Imane Fadil
(actually on 9 August 2012 was Moroccan Imane who spontaneously told judge Ilda Boccassini that the Montenegrin beauty was Berlusconi's real
girlfriend).
Emilio Fede also told about a dramatic scene at the home of Italy's former
prime minister, when Katarina “made a nasty scene of jealousy”
about the presence of other women, and jumped from the stairs of the
villa, got hurt, and “Silvio Berlusconi had to retire, with
Katarina, in order to console her. Actually there are no public photos of Berlusconi with Katarina Knezevic.
Silvio'sinfatuation of for the young woman was testified also by
Nicole Minetti and Clotilde Strada on a famous phone call,
intercepted during the sex-scandal Rubygate investigations (the video is on our YouTube Channel).
Thursday,
December 20, 2012. Silvio Berlusconi-s owned gossip magazine attempts
to delegitimize a magistrate looking into sex-scandal trial by
denigrate her socks. It's not the first time they resort to this
extreme measure, Italian judges should pay more attention to the
colour of their socks, experts say.
Ilda Boccassini doing work
The
prosecutor in charge of the Rubygate – a case in which Silvio
Berlusconi is indicted for having given money to under-age Karima el
Mahroug (aka Ruby the Heart Stealer) – has appeared on a photo
shoot on Berlusconi's Mondadori-owned “Chi” weekly magazine, a
gossip newspaper.
Judge
Ilda Boccassini is an old enemy of Berlusconi's, since she took over
the place of Antonio Di Pietro, back in 1994, in the “Mani pulite”
(“Clean hands”) investigation.
Silvio and Ilda met up in several occasions, since.
Ilda Boccassini doing shopping
The
gossip weekly portrays the judge as she goes shopping in the centre
of Milan, adding captions in order to deride the magistrate. A list
of her cloths is published, where “multi-coloured striped wool
socks”, costing 21 euro, are exhibited and undrlined in order –
somehow – to belittle the judge. Another photo shows Ilda
Boccassini dropping the butt of a cigarette to the ground. Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera and Rai3 news service accused the media outlet of "hounding" the judge.
A similar technique was used by Canale5 broadcaster staff in 2009, when they hounded judge Raimondo Mesiano, who ordered to Silvio Berlusconi's Fininvest to pay 750 million euro (£612m) to Carlo De Benedetti's – arch-enemy of The Knight – CIR, as a compensation in the frame of the Lodo Mondadori, a battle between the two Italian entrepreneurs following the acquisition of publisher Arnoldo Mondadori Editore by Fininvest. Mr Mesiano was followed by the broadcaster's men, his turquoise-coloured socks were exposed as a major offence.
Ruby rebuilding her virginity with Chi's Alfonso Signorini
By the
way, the weekly magazine we started this post with is owned by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore SpA (company chaired by Silvio's daughter,
Maria Elvira Berlusconi, commonly known as Marina Berlusconi). The paper is also
known for having published topless photos of Kate Middleton earlier
this year, and a picture of prnicess Diana, taken as she was dying,
after a car accident on 31 August 1997. The Director of “Chi”,
Alfonso Signorini, was in charge also when Mediaset (on Canale 5's Kalispéra TV show) tried to prove that Ruby the Heart Stealer was – in reality – a
kind of vocational nun, not a prostitute.
.jpg "Silvio Berlusconi haunted by Veronica Lario")
